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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

Daniel is a normal boy, he likes dinosaurs and tractors. But something makes him very special: curiosity, courage, and an arm designed just for him (thanks to the efforts of biomedical engineering students at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, with a little help from Siemens PLM Software).

Carroll Shelby's first Shelby Cobra was a car he built himself and owned until he died, despite offers to sell it for millions. This year, the Monterey Historic Races are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Shelby Cobra, one of the most famous sports cars in the world.

Jim Herr went from poultry farmer to snack-making kingpin when he traded in his farm for a potato chip processing facility. Herr Foods Inc. is now one of the largest snack food processors in the country, making everything from potato chips to pretzels to popcorn.

The Air Force is developing technology that takes control of planes from pilots to avoid crashing into the ground or other terrain. The system is designed to take over for the pilot in the event of a possible crash, recover the aircraft, then give control back to the pilot.

The verdict against Samsung came as competition heats up in the mobile device industry. Microsoft's Windows phone could be the dark horse to watch in the race to win share in the mobile device industry, in the wake of Apple's U.S. patent victory against Samsung.

Chess grandmaster and Harvard economics professor Ken Rogoff spells out the next financial move by using the game he loves as an analogy. Negotiation, reading other people, moves made out of desperation, all play a role in both chess and a financial crisis.

A new generation of adaptive vision-equipped robotics is set to change manufacturing around the world. How these robots adapt to their environment is just as important as what they can accomplish. They are being developed to handle and adapt to assembly line shifts, which would be a game-changer for modern manufacturing.

That's the question Frances Causey's new documentary "Heist" tries to answer. Rob Cox of Reuters speaks with her about the film and the events that preceded the Great Recession. Who is to blame? Causey has quite a bit to say in response to that question.

Slow to find success in the realm of mobile, HP and Dell are caught in a downward slide with no apparent end in sight. The tablet is the device that everyone wants today, but Dell and HP are unable to deliver on that right now. Can that change in the not-so-distant future?

Timothy Prestero thought he'd designed the perfect incubator for newborns in the developing world -- but his team learned a hard lesson when it failed to go into production. Here is a manifesto on the importance of designing for real-world use, rather than accolades.

Stanford's self-driving Audi TTS, Shelley, hit 120 miles per hour on a recent track test. Combined with new research on professional drivers' brain activity, the car's performance could get even better. Watch as this robotic car pushes the limits.

Despite all the hype, some products simply fail to live up to their expectations – and there was no shortage of flops in recent months. Take a look at these 2012 market failures, which includes a Windows-based smartphone, an ultra-thin notebook intended to compete with the MacBook Air, and a 2012 Disney movie.

Watch as Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO/CTO gives a tour of the Spacex facility in Hawthorne, California. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) designs, manufactures, and launches some of the world's most advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk to revolutionize space transportation and ultimately make it possible for people to live on other planets.

The credit crisis that pushed economies around the world into a recession still has yet to fully play out. Blackhorse economist Richard Duncan says that credit needs to be restored to the global economy and that if the fiscal situation isn't resolved, the Unites States could fall into a deep recession next year.

It's the $30 billion deal that has been a long time coming: the proposed Glencore Xstrata merger has had digging deep to get the best price. Now, after better than expected results, Glencore, which supplies raw materials such as oil and copper, has said it could walk away from the deal for a year or two.

Wind turbines and solar power are growing sources of global energy, but one of their greatest limitations is the inability to generate power when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining. Startup Liquid Metal Battery is developing a low-cost battery they say will store wind or solar electricity for when there's no wind or sun.

You always hear that concept cars never make it into production, but here's one that actually will. The Lamborghini Sesto Elemento is almost completely carbon fiber, can go 0-60 in 2.4 seconds, and will cost over $2 million. The company is only going to produce twenty Elementos, and this car is strictly track only--you won't be able drive this one on the street.